Improvement in knitting-machines



UNITED STATES PATENT Orne-10Ea THOMAS CRANE, OF FORT ATKINSON, WISCONSIN.

IMPROVEMENT IN KNITTINGVMACHINES.v

ISpecification forming part of Letters Patent No. 69,776, dated October 15, 1867.

clare that the following is a full, clear, and

exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure l is an elevation of 011e side of a knitting-machine having my improvement applied to it. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through the machine, taken in a vertical plane. Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken in a vertical plane indicated by red line w x.

Similarletters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the three figures.

This invention relates to an improvement on that class of knitting machinery wherein two parallel rows of needles are used, which are arranged to reciprocate in grooves that are formed in the surfaces of inclined plates, said needles being operated by means of sliding cam-plates applied to a rectilinear reciprocating carriage that moves the yarn-carrier.

The object of my invention is to hold the work down in place during the ascent of the 4needles to receive the yarn by means of a comb of spurs arranged beneath the needle-beds,

and operated so as to pass through the knit fabric at points which are near the loops upon the needles, thereby securing or maintaining such a condition of the loops as will insure their being cast oif from the needles with certainty, as will be hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand my invention, I will describe its construction and operation.

In the accompanying drawing I have reprev sented my improvement applied to a wellknown knitting-machine, of that class which employs straight rows of needles a a, applied to the inclined plates of a frame, A. The needles are of the kind known as the latch-needles, and they receive areciprocating motion from cams or'inclined planes bv b, that are applied to the lower surfaces of an open reciprocating carriage, B. This carriage B is supported upon'the inclined surfaces of the jackframe A, and held down in place by means of transverse plates c c, which are secured to said frame near its extremities.

The cam-plates b b are shifted at the termination of the forward and backward strokes of the carriage B by means of short arms d d, two of which are pivoted at each vertical end of the jack-frame, and so applied to this frame that they can be adjusted out o`f the way when it is not desired to shift the said cam-plates. The needles work between the jacks e e, receive the yarn, and cast off the loops in the usual manner. The yarn is conducted from the bobbin through an eye which is made transversely through a bridge-bar, C, which latter is supported upon the jack-frame A some distance above the needles by means of standards Cl Cl at the ends of said frame.

The yarn is conducted from the eye f over a grooved pulley, g3, upon the upper end of an arm, D, an d thence carried down and passed through the eye of a sliding hanger, g, to the needles. The arm D is pivoted at its lower end to the slide gl, which receives a reciproeatin g movement on the rod C2 from a projection', h, on the carriage B. This armD is also connected to the bridge-bar C by means of a pin, fi, which passes freely through a long slot in this arm, as shown in Figs. l and 2.

Having nonT given a general description of one form of knitting-machine, I will proceed to describe my improvement for-allowing the needles to Acast oi the loops freely.

Ou the bottom side of each inclined needlebed of frame A is a longitudinal bar, E, having suitably secured tof'its upper edge a row of spurs, n, of suitable length and strength. The plates or bars E are held in guides in such manner that theycan be moved up and down in a direction'with the length of the needles or spurs n. For the purpose of moving these combs E, I employ the longitudinally-reciproeating plates G G, the ends of which project through holes that are made through the vertical ends of the frame A, as shown in Fig. 2, to be acted upon by plates or levers p p on the carriage B. To these plates or bars Gr the combbarsEare connected by means of studsss,which pass through oblique slots in the plates G, as shown in Fig. 2. The length of these oblique slots should be such as will allow the plates G to move the comb-spurs through the two thicknesses of knit fabric, so that the points ofthe spurs will nearly, if not quite, touch the inner edges of the jacks when these spurs are thrust upward.

When the comb-spurs are depressed their points will be free from the fabric. The levers p p are pivoted to transverse plates J J near the ends of the carriage B, which plates have notches eut in their lower edges, in lines coinciding with the ends of the slotted plates or bars Gr, so that when the levers p Ap are thrown down ont of the way of the ends of bars G Gr these bars will remain stationary when the carriage B is moved. When levers p 1J are raised so as to cover the notches in their respective plates J, they will then strike the ends of the bars G when the carriage B is moved, and alternately thrust up the combspurs.

In Figs. l and 2 I have shown another deA vice for holding` down thc work, and which moves with thc yarn-carrier, and which is so constructed and arranged that it may be einployed in conjunction with the combspurs; but as the same i'orms the subject ol" another application by me for a patent I will not here describe it.

It is not desired to employ two diterent devices at the same time for effecting` the object herein set forth, as this object can be ei'ected by the employmentovl the coinbfspurs alone.

Having thus described my invention, what IY claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- I l. The employment ol" spurs or combs, ar ranged and operating substantially as described, for the purpose of holding the work in proper position durinthe ascent of the needles.

2. The notched plates J J, in combination with levers p p, or other equivalent means for moving the slotted bars G and the conlbspurs, substantially as described.

3. 1n combination with a knitting-machine having one or two straight rows oli' needles, I claim holding` the work down in place during;` the ascent ot' the needles by a device or devices arrz'tnged beneath the needlc-beds, substantially as described.

THOMAS CRANE.

Witnesses:

l). WHITAKER, S. BAURNER. 

